How Government Works...

You can read this as a pure joke, but there's enough truth in it to sting:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in
D.C.; one from New Jersey, another from Tennessee and the third, from
Florida. They go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring,
then works some figures with a pencil. 'Well', he says, 'I figure the job
will run about $900; $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit
for me.'

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,
'I can do this job for $700; $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100
profit for me.'

The New Jersey contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the
White House official and whispers, '$2,700.'

The official, incredulous, says, 'You didn't even measure like the other
guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'
The New Jersey contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and
we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence.'

'Done!' replies the government official.

And that, is how it all works!

The New Jersey contractor in the joke is exactly what a real New Jersey contractor would be like!

Tip of the hat to Jim M. for sending this along.

And speaking of New Jersey…for the past couple of days I've been enjoying New Jersey tomatoes, courtesy of my parents. I think they send me these boxes of tomatoes so that I'll have something good to say about the place. I've been eating them in one of my favorite dishes: garbanzos, tomatoes, raw sweet corn, a little summer savory, and a teaspoon or two of mayonaisse. Yum!